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News
Bad statistics spoil AIDS plans
�At risk� women not counted; bisexuals hardly counted; gays under�counted. Grand-total �at risk� is 950,000, not 150,000.
Analysis by Tim Campbell
The Minnesota Department of Health released a 121 page booklet on May 1 which predicts that 1,200 people will die of AIDS here by 1990 and that medical costs will total as much as $ 128 million dollars while lost earnings will total $690 million. So far, no one in that Department is able to say how much money has been requested (if any) for advertising campaigns in 1986 to reduce the spread of AIDS.
A similar policy statement was approved by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners on February 5. This statement incorporates the promise that �a significant portion of the educational effort �against AIDS will be targeted toward the gay community. So far little has been done by the County.
Until, 1986, the City of Minneapolis did not have any capacity to respond to AIDS. Now, Minneapolis employs one half-time worker on AIDS. The City claims it �contracts� its epidemic work from the County for a fee of $50,000.
Hennepin County, in turn, claims it �contracts� AIDS prevention work out to the Minnesota AIDS Project, MAP.
According to the director of MAP, Eric Engstrom, their health educators are only allowed to give seminars on risk reduction.
This is a thorough, but slow way of reaching. The �health educators� have no budgets for educating via the mass media.
Bruce Taylor, the City�s health educator says he has been able to reach about 1,200 people so far this year, and will only be able to reach about 3,600 in the course of the year.
Taylor�s audiences have been health care workers, home health care assistants, and nursing home employees. The audiences for these workshops are largely female, and largely general population audiences as opposed to audiences likely to include a high percentage of persons at great risk for AIDS. Nonetheless these lectures do reach a few �high risk� audiences.
The Minnesota AIDS Project workshops and safe sex seminars have been conducted, with many similar audiences. Engstrom says that they have reached only about 3,000 gay men with their efforts since November while reaching twice that number with general population audiences.
Most of MAP audiences include church groups, health care professionals, and hospital workers. In February MAP did three sessions with Control Data employees and another with the Minnesota Correctional Association employees.
MAP says it is teaching people �How to do risk reduction counseling.� By this, one of the health educators, explained MAP means things like sticking to the topic, reducing discussion to the personal rather than the abstract level, talking about things missecf once safe sex is under practice.
Officials in health services on all three levels of government, city, county and state, claim that they support the idea of using advertising to teach people how to avoid catching AIDS.
A year ago, the Minnesota AIDS Project submitted a proposal to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. A part of the request for federal money asked for $300,000 in advertising budget. Subsequently, grants from the Federal and State sources were cut back. Advertising lost out, got the axe.
In February of 1986, both Mike Osterholm with the Minnesota Health Department and Eric Engstrom with the Minnesota AIDS Project began bad mouthing advertising. Both told reporters that �the literature� says ad campaigns don�t work. The infamous example of ad campaigns to get people to stop smoking were, according to Osterholm and Engstrom, proof of the ineffectiveness of advertising.
It�s unclear still whether both of these experts had not gotten it into their heads that abstinence from sex was necessary to stop AIDS. Most experts believe on the contrary, that condoms are very effective in stopping the transmission of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In the aftermath of this turn of events, the Minnesota legislature has not been asked for funds for advertising to stop the spread of AIDS. The same is true of the County Commissioners. The same is true on the City level. The persons in charge of seeking funds for AIDS have not asked for advertising money. Minneapolis City Counciimember Brian Coyle has written supporting advertising, but no hard motions have been brought to city committee.
The situation here has been exasperated by the fact that the State, the County and the City, when confronted on this issue all claim to have �contracted�- or farmed out the job of �risk reduction� to the Minnesota AIDS Project.
The AIDS Project folks on the other hand, claim that when the City, County and State �contracted� for �risk reductin� with them, the public agencies were very careful to limit the kind of �risk reduction� MAP could do.
Said differently, the City,
County and State told MAP, in essence, �Risk reduction will be your job, but you can only do it in the context of seminars and workshops conducted by health educators.� MAP was given only $3,000 for supplementary materials such as brochures, flyers. Most of this is stuff MAP buys from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
MAP too has drug its heels on this issue and is just beginning to seek funds elsewhere for advertising.
The State budget for 1987 to this date does not include any funds for risk reduction advertising. As of May 2, no one at the Health Department had any idea whether or how much the Department might spend on risk reduction advertising in 1986. This flies in the face of policies adapted by the Commissioner�s Task Force on AIDS recommending the use of mass media advertising.
Size of risk groups underestimated
But perhaps the most serious blunder in the overall picture of planning for AIDS in Minnesota is the fact that no one has made any serious effort to estimate the size of the different risk groups.
(Continued on page 3)
PLAY BALL!
Softball Season
now in full swing
(Story promised next issue)
Seventh Year 140 Issue May 5, 1986 10,000 Copies
Subscriptions $15.00 year stapled, $20.00 enveloped
1517 LaSalle #E Minneapolis, MN 55403
s
3.3.00 FOOZTH- AUSo fYtPL S hnKSSe^oy-

News
Bad statistics spoil AIDS plans
�At risk� women not counted; bisexuals hardly counted; gays under�counted. Grand-total �at risk� is 950,000, not 150,000.
Analysis by Tim Campbell
The Minnesota Department of Health released a 121 page booklet on May 1 which predicts that 1,200 people will die of AIDS here by 1990 and that medical costs will total as much as $ 128 million dollars while lost earnings will total $690 million. So far, no one in that Department is able to say how much money has been requested (if any) for advertising campaigns in 1986 to reduce the spread of AIDS.
A similar policy statement was approved by the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners on February 5. This statement incorporates the promise that �a significant portion of the educational effort �against AIDS will be targeted toward the gay community. So far little has been done by the County.
Until, 1986, the City of Minneapolis did not have any capacity to respond to AIDS. Now, Minneapolis employs one half-time worker on AIDS. The City claims it �contracts� its epidemic work from the County for a fee of $50,000.
Hennepin County, in turn, claims it �contracts� AIDS prevention work out to the Minnesota AIDS Project, MAP.
According to the director of MAP, Eric Engstrom, their health educators are only allowed to give seminars on risk reduction.
This is a thorough, but slow way of reaching. The �health educators� have no budgets for educating via the mass media.
Bruce Taylor, the City�s health educator says he has been able to reach about 1,200 people so far this year, and will only be able to reach about 3,600 in the course of the year.
Taylor�s audiences have been health care workers, home health care assistants, and nursing home employees. The audiences for these workshops are largely female, and largely general population audiences as opposed to audiences likely to include a high percentage of persons at great risk for AIDS. Nonetheless these lectures do reach a few �high risk� audiences.
The Minnesota AIDS Project workshops and safe sex seminars have been conducted, with many similar audiences. Engstrom says that they have reached only about 3,000 gay men with their efforts since November while reaching twice that number with general population audiences.
Most of MAP audiences include church groups, health care professionals, and hospital workers. In February MAP did three sessions with Control Data employees and another with the Minnesota Correctional Association employees.
MAP says it is teaching people �How to do risk reduction counseling.� By this, one of the health educators, explained MAP means things like sticking to the topic, reducing discussion to the personal rather than the abstract level, talking about things missecf once safe sex is under practice.
Officials in health services on all three levels of government, city, county and state, claim that they support the idea of using advertising to teach people how to avoid catching AIDS.
A year ago, the Minnesota AIDS Project submitted a proposal to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. A part of the request for federal money asked for $300,000 in advertising budget. Subsequently, grants from the Federal and State sources were cut back. Advertising lost out, got the axe.
In February of 1986, both Mike Osterholm with the Minnesota Health Department and Eric Engstrom with the Minnesota AIDS Project began bad mouthing advertising. Both told reporters that �the literature� says ad campaigns don�t work. The infamous example of ad campaigns to get people to stop smoking were, according to Osterholm and Engstrom, proof of the ineffectiveness of advertising.
It�s unclear still whether both of these experts had not gotten it into their heads that abstinence from sex was necessary to stop AIDS. Most experts believe on the contrary, that condoms are very effective in stopping the transmission of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In the aftermath of this turn of events, the Minnesota legislature has not been asked for funds for advertising to stop the spread of AIDS. The same is true of the County Commissioners. The same is true on the City level. The persons in charge of seeking funds for AIDS have not asked for advertising money. Minneapolis City Counciimember Brian Coyle has written supporting advertising, but no hard motions have been brought to city committee.
The situation here has been exasperated by the fact that the State, the County and the City, when confronted on this issue all claim to have �contracted�- or farmed out the job of �risk reduction� to the Minnesota AIDS Project.
The AIDS Project folks on the other hand, claim that when the City, County and State �contracted� for �risk reductin� with them, the public agencies were very careful to limit the kind of �risk reduction� MAP could do.
Said differently, the City,
County and State told MAP, in essence, �Risk reduction will be your job, but you can only do it in the context of seminars and workshops conducted by health educators.� MAP was given only $3,000 for supplementary materials such as brochures, flyers. Most of this is stuff MAP buys from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
MAP too has drug its heels on this issue and is just beginning to seek funds elsewhere for advertising.
The State budget for 1987 to this date does not include any funds for risk reduction advertising. As of May 2, no one at the Health Department had any idea whether or how much the Department might spend on risk reduction advertising in 1986. This flies in the face of policies adapted by the Commissioner�s Task Force on AIDS recommending the use of mass media advertising.
Size of risk groups underestimated
But perhaps the most serious blunder in the overall picture of planning for AIDS in Minnesota is the fact that no one has made any serious effort to estimate the size of the different risk groups.
(Continued on page 3)
PLAY BALL!
Softball Season
now in full swing
(Story promised next issue)
Seventh Year 140 Issue May 5, 1986 10,000 Copies
Subscriptions $15.00 year stapled, $20.00 enveloped
1517 LaSalle #E Minneapolis, MN 55403
s
3.3.00 FOOZTH- AUSo fYtPL S hnKSSe^oy-